Due Punishment
by FortySeventhLight
Summary: Hiei's made a potentially dangerous mistake and Mukuro will show him no mercy. Hiei x Mukuro


Well hello there! Again, it's been a while since I've put up any one-shots (though, I think this one could definitely continue with a couple more installments), but I'm glad to be posting again! This little fic was inspired by two things; Phil Collins' now timeless "Two Worlds", and a prompt from my 100_women challenge at Live Journal. The prompt was "hit" and whoo! Inspiration hit me pretty good I think. lol

Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: After over six years of writing for this fandom, I still don't own even a fraction of it. Just a few dvds. Dang it.

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><p><strong>Due Punishment<strong>

His sword would never be sharp enough, and still he unremittingly ran the smooth stone over the edges. The blade brilliantly returned the image of its owner, unkempt mane and weary eyes. Hiei hadn't slept in four days now and he had no intentions of ever sleeping again.

_Shing!_

The stone continued its set task, but after hours and hours of the practice, it was becoming a meaningless project. Hiei was no longer pretending to focus on his craftsmanship, mindlessly fine-tuning the blade so that it could cut through even the thickest set of dragon scales known. No, his mind was elsewhere, and so he continued to file away.

_Shing!_

He couldn't stop thinking about it – that night he slept so soundlessly while the world outside his camp turned restless and dangerous. His random, unplanned trips used to be a nuisance to his lady and lord, but after she realized that it was actually beneficial for him to get the time to himself (and therefore not want to argue every two seconds), Mukuro graciously allowed him the free will to do what he wanted.

_Shing!_

The last few times he'd gone on his excursions, however, he wasn't alone. Yes, once he brought along Mukuro, but his favorite companion was their son, Mafuyu. A bright young boy with blue eyes like his mother, Mafuyu was also an adventurer like his parents. These little trips with his father were what humans would consider bonding, but Hiei utilized them to teach his son valuable lessons in defending himself and hunting down potential predators.

_Shing!_

Their most recent trip away took them to a forest, one which Hiei often found himself having to play security guard in on behalf of King Enki. Even though the relatively peaceful ruler disliked starting fights, he wasn't as popular in the lower class areas, where many fiendish demons tried to plot numerous uprisings, all of which up to that point had been subdued by Hiei, and the like thereof. Due to the inactivity in the recent months, he felt it now to be a safer location to bring Mafuyu for training.

_Sh-!_

Hiei finally let the stone drop to the ground as familiar emotions overcame his weakened form. Quivering as if poison was slowly killing him, causing unyielding internal agony, he also dropped his sword next to what was left of his only son's broken body. The boy's right arm had been severed and his face was badly bruised, blood coating most of his skin thus giving away all indications that he might be alive.

But Mafuyu wasn't alive. He had died four days ago while Hiei was asleep.

Four Days Prior

Hiei walked slowly through the dimly lit corridors, not looking any of the guards in the eye as they murmured amongst themselves of what was amiss. When one's voice would get too loud, Hiei would glare at them fiercely, death coming from all three of his eyes with a threat he would soon back up. Then silence would fall around him again, giving him the much needed silence he required until he reached the end of the hallway where Hell awaited him.

"Isn't that…?"

"It can't be…"

"Surely Hiei wouldn't let…"

"Silence, you fools! Don't you think I'm angry as hell right now?"

His wish for solace again was granted, all guards then turning their heads down for fear of losing them. Challenging their lady lord's mate was not a wise choice, especially in these sensitive circumstances.

When he reached the door that led into the great chamber where Mukuro was waiting for him, unknowing exactly of what had transpired, Hiei stepped through, masking his fear with his usual careful façade to imply he wasn't at all upset. The mask would be his only defense against the rage of his mate.

She didn't turn to him at all as he entered the room, sensing only his presence, which she was so accustomed to. She never felt the need to greet him like a human wife would to a returning soldier from war – the two of them were far too casual and dry to even consider something so childishly fantastical.

"You're back early," Mukuro said, monotone and cross with him.

Her low response did nothing to strengthen his barriers, Hiei's iron wall already beginning to shake in the presence of his fearless lady lord. "I chose a poor site for Mafuyu's training."

Mukuro blinked when a bolt of lightning shattered the sky for a moment. "And how did you come to discover that?"

Hiei felt his throat go suddenly dry, words incapable of rising to answer Mukuro's simple question. But it wasn't so simple to answer at all.

"Answer me, Hiei," Mukuro was growing irritated with his unusual silence.

"It wasn't… a safe place to be after nightfall…"

All Hiei felt he could do when Mukuro turned around finally was to be respectful enough to stand there with his eyes facing downwards, looking almost reverent, but rather it was to hide his shame from her sharp gaze. What she saw was half of what she expected, but in the manner she saw it, she felt a mixture of sadness, grief and contempt build within her.

In his clean, unmarked arms, Hiei held the lifeless, bloodied body of their son, single arm tucked as neatly as possible on his stomach, and hair matted with dirt, blood and traces of a demon's stench. Mukuro already knew that Hiei had come back alone, thinking perhaps that the father had left Mafuyu on his own for a day as something like a rite of passage for a male of proper age. But this… this was not at all what she expected.

"Lay him down," she told him, voice unshaken and firm.

Hiei complied without a word, letting Mafuyu rest in what looked like relative comfort in the many pillows and trappings of Mukuro's bed. Many times before that boy had slept there, nestled safely between his mother and father, but now that he was there alone, a strange eeriness froze the moment in Hiei's mind. That image would never leave him.

"How did he die?" Mukuro asked, walking towards her mate and son, as if to examine the body a little closer. Hiei didn't think she would yet show grief or motherly instincts.

This was the part Hiei was dreading; telling Mukuro what had led to Mafuyu's death. "A lower class demon came into our camp, and-"

"A lower class demon?" Mukuro's voice was fiendishly dark and unpleasant. Hiei felt his heart pump painfully.

"Mafuyu, I guess, thought he could handle it on his own… so he took my sword and attacked. The demon struck first." He answered as simply as he could, not wanting to add details of dishonorable taste. He knew the consequences of his actions would be severe, he just wanted to delay that as much as possible.

"And you were where?" Again, she was harsh with her tone, her long fingers pushing away Mafuyu's black bangs to reveal more of his bruised face.

Hiei waited, watching Mukuro as she looked deep into the slumber-like features of their son. He wondered if she was starting to let his death sink in now, perhaps exhibiting her rarely seen motherly moments by touching the boy's face. But when she quickly snapped her single eye back to him, hungry for an immediate answer, Hiei was forced into a corner.

"Asleep. I'm so accustomed to sleeping through the slight radiations that a lower class demon has, I didn't wake when I felt the presence of one. Mafuyu was obviously more sensitive-"

Appropriately, he was cut off by Mukuro's hardened fist connecting with his now bruising cheek. He knew it was coming sooner or later, he just hoped it would be later. The soreness he felt now, though, was nowhere near enough pain to feel on account of such a loss.

"You blundering idiot," she hissed, hitting him again in the same spot. "You see all those cuts, bruises and teeth marks on him? I'm going to make sure you have ten times as many, except for the teeth marks. I'll let some other lowlife see to that when I'm through with you."

For hours she continued to bash his skull in, fists pounding, legs kicking and the occasional energy blast would sear away a portion of skin. But Hiei took it all, knowing it was what he deserved for letting their son die on his watch. Mukuro had every reason in the world to punish him for his foolishness, and since Mafuyu's body was clearly not an appropriate returning gift to bring her, the only gift he could offer now was to be her punching bag.

"You _bastard_ of a man, how could you let that happen?"

"He was just a child!"

"You had no business taking him to a place where you know you're the public enemy!"

Her knee connected with his stomach for probably the thirtieth time in that session, knocking him across the room and into the most uncomfortable wall. His ribs were already broken, so all it did was cause discomfort and some uneasiness in his stomach, but again, he knew he had earned it all. There was no redeeming himself this time.

Too bloodied and weak to look up to see if she was coming for another round, Hiei waited and listened for her footfalls as she drew nearer to him until her shadow overpowered his crumbling frame. Expecting to be picked up again by the collar to be punched a few more times, he was surprised to endure no such thing.

"Look at me," she demanded with her lordly authority returning, thus calming her outward rage. Hiei did so without a word, eyes barely open due to the swelling in his cranium and face. "If you are expecting me to kill you, I will grant you no such pleasure. You and I both learned long ago that a life for another does not bring the one originally lost back, nor does it take the pain away. It just feeds the killing instinct more and we are mere shells of what we fantasize of attaining – honor. Instead, I will let you live with your misery and failures."

That's what he feared she would do. It was just like before – when he first came to her calling – that he had fallen back into a meaningless life of murdering and bloodshed. He felt dishonored to even be alive, but Mukuro gave him another reason, and thus Mafuyu was the blessing of his patience and willingness to move on. Without their son, however, to be a subtle reminder of that, Hiei had lost sight of living again. He had no one to protect or teach any more.

"Additionally, I will give you another challenge." To Hiei's surprise, Mukuro had left him to go and fetch Mafuyu's corpse, carrying him easily back to where he sat in a pathetic heap on the floor. "You will find any and all demons associated with Mafuyu's death and kill them, but until you do, you will carry his body with you. When your task is complete, you may then bury your son before I give you the grace to kill yourself. Try to kill yourself out of guilt before that, and I will revive you again and again."

More than fair punishment, Hiei figured. It was so like Mukuro to saddle him with such a meddlesome task. It would be simple to track down the demon that killed his son, yes, but he knew that Mukuro was keenly aware of what would be triggered if he slew that demon. The uprising he was trying to quell for Enki would overtake him and thus cause the chaos Enki had dedicated his rule to moderating to go out of control. A clever, but harsh woman, that Mukuro…

So though he did slowly and painfully, Hiei rose to his feet and took Mafuyu in his badly bleeding arms. It was more than fitting that the once unblemished father would now leave the stronghold beaten worse than his deceased son. All of the murmurs and whispers he heard as he walked down the corridor were words he could no longer combat, instead listening to them all as he left to fulfill Mukuro's grueling request.

"Serves him right…"

"Filthy lowlife…"

"Coward…"

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><p>Ooo, and so it ends with an interesting cliffhanger. Like I said in the preface, I could easily continue this story, but it will be short, and I'll only continue if this seems to do well. I don't want to pour effort into something people really could care less about. Meh, whatever. lol Review if you liked, leave if you didn't. Thank you for your time, diligent reader!<p>

_47th Light_

P.S. - Yes, I swear I am working on the last chapter of The Earring. I keep changing my mind about what order I want things to go. lol Bear with me!


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